Victoria Shipyards – Paid Sick Days

In January 2022, the BC government introduced Bill 19 which would provide every employee with five paid sick days each year.

Unfortunately, Seaspan decided unilaterally to deny those paid sick days citing that the benefits that employees currently have meets or exceeds the five days. The employer felt they were not obligated to provide those five days.

The Boilermakers 191 filed a policy grievance, on behalf of all unions, against Victoria Shipyards. Multiple other grievances were also filed against other companies falling under the Seaspan umbrella.

Thankfully, the Minster of Labour, Harry Bains, made an amendment to the Bill in March 2022, which clarifies that all employees would be entitled to the five paid sick days, regardless of what their collective agreement entitlements were.

Your employer, Victoria Shipyards, has indicated that they will now honour the five paid sick days, retroactive to January 1, 2022, for all employees.

If you were off sick sometime after January 1, 2022, you will be contacted by your employer to determine whether you would like to utilize those paid days. You may also choose to keep the five days to be used at a later date, should you need them. If you had used five sick days already this year, you can also choose to have any number of the days paid out and save the rest should you need them for the remainder of the year.

For members who choose to have those five days paid out retroactively, under the legislation, the employer will be required to calculate the average amount earned per day for the previous 30-days to calculate your daily amount.

Please note that this legislation applies to full days only, not partial days. If you miss an hour or two, or even a half-day, due to illness, and you choose to use one of your five sick days, you will lose a full day of entitlement.

This sick leave entitlement is available to all employees who have been employed for more than 90-days.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at ygarie@moveuptogether.ca.

In solidarity,

Yudon Garie
Union Representative